- Type
- Ruin
- Heritage
- part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (an old town or a valley, for example)
- Coordinates
- 45.6228°, 23.3103°
History
On the slopes of Grădiștea Muncelului hill, some 1,200 metres above sea level, the chief political and religious centre of the Dacians grew up in the 1st century BC. Under King Decebalus, late in the 1st century AD, the fortress, ringed by a wall of dressed stone blocks tied with timber beams, was the heart of a kingdom that Rome saw as a dangerous rival on the Danube. Emperor Trajan invaded Dacia in 101–102, and in the second war, in 106, he captured the capital; Decebalus took his own life rather than be taken prisoner. The Romans garrisoned the fortress but founded the capital of their new province several dozen kilometres away, at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa. In 1999 the site was listed by UNESCO together with the other Dacian fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains.
What to see
The last stretch to the ruins is on foot through beech forest. Sections of the defensive walls and gates survive, and beside the fortress lies the sacred precinct, with rows of stone column bases from former rectangular sanctuaries. The most striking features are the great circular sanctuary and a stone disc known as the Andesite Sun, interpreted as an altar or a calendar.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q739802
Popularity: articles about this site in 32 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).